Construction worker falls 25 feet into trench

As an experienced construction accident attorney, I carefully follow news from around the country about the construction industry. Despite regulations, improved technologies, and precautions taken by companies and workers, accidents happen often.

A recent article from The New York Times caught my eye, telling the story of a man pulled from the mud after falling into a trench in Queens.

The construction worker fell 25 feet into a trench at a construction site, trapping him waist-deep in mud. After three hours, rescuers were finally able to free the 35-year-old man.

The worker is expected to recover from his injuries. Police have not said exactly what caused the man to fall.

After the worker fell, his co-workers attempted to rescue him for an hour before finally calling the authorities for help. Once on the scene, about 50 rescuers took another two hours to pull him from the trench.

To pull him from the mud, rescuers had to use a backhoe, a vacuum truck, and an air knife. After the big equipment removed most of the mud, they then used hand tools to dig him out, cautious as to not allow the walls of the trench to cave in.

The man was speaking and conscious when pulled out, but he complained of pain in his legs and was in a neck brace when taken to the ambulance on a gurney.

As someone who deals with construction accident injuries, this is yet another sad reminder that freak accidents happen on the job site. We don’t know yet whether this accident was the result of someone else’s negligence or carelessness, but it seldom is the case that a worker becomes injured entirely through his or her own fault.

If you are a construction worker, I implore you to be careful on the job site. Take extra precautions to keep yourself, your co-workers, and surrounding pedestrians safe at all times. The man in Queens fell 25 feet and lives to tell to tell about it; it’s safe to say that luck was on his side.